DETROIT — A.J. Hinch still had not gone through all the unread congratulatory texts on his phone when the Detroit Tigers’ preparation for the proverbial “hangover game” began.

After so much excitement the night before, this day was dark and dreary. “Borderline Gotham City,” Hinch said. There was a lengthy delay, and after nearly two months of adrenaline, a slow nine-inning slog.

The Tigers lost to the Chicago White Sox 4-0 in the penultimate game of the regular season. Sunday is the finale. Their postseason opponent is still to be decided. They will play either the Orioles in Baltimore or the Astros in Houston.

So with the postseason now a reality, here’s a preview of the team’s biggest questions and decision points.

How many pitchers for the wild-card round?

Because the wild-card round is only three games max, there’s a strong chance the Tigers will have only 12 pitchers active for the series. Some teams have even used as few as 11 in shortened series. The Tigers already have to cut the roster from 28 to 26. Going with only 12 pitchers would allow the Tigers to retain Justyn-Henry Malloy and Jace Jung for help against left-handed pitching.

For now, the Tigers are leaning toward carrying an extra bench bat rather than an extraneous arm they’d prefer to stay away from anyway.

But a disclaimer: Never rule out a surprise with Hinch and Scott Harris making these maneuvers.

Where does Jackson Jobe fit in the puzzle?

Although he’s one of only two Tigers players with playoff experience, Kenta Maeda is the likely choice to be the first pitcher left off the roster.

But what other pitcher could miss the wild-card round? That’ll be an interesting one, and likely Detroit’s toughest decision. Casey Mize is one player at risk. He’s not going to work as a starter, and he’s only pitched once so far out of the bullpen, where his stuff did not tick up. Ty Madden, who has a 4.30 ERA and was not effective Saturday, could be an even more probable option.

The real question in all this is what the Tigers will do with Jackson Jobe. Would they really throw the rookie into a pressure-packed situation in the playoffs? Jobe has only pitched twice since his promotion, neither in a true leverage setting. He has never entered a game with runners on base. But he does have the capability to miss bats, and he did shut down the White Sox on Saturday, going three innings and allowing no hits and a walk while striking out two batters. (And for the record, Jobe did not actually have to clean up the entire Tigers clubhouse after Friday’s postgame celebration. “Everyone was just messing around,” he said.)

First Major League strikeout for Jackson Jobe! #RepDetroit @jacksonwjobe pic.twitter.com/svYdoYkL9k

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) September 28, 2024

The Tigers are 21-12 against left-handed starters this year, but they haven’t exactly fared well against lefties in recent days. Since the Tigers’ hot streak intensified Aug. 13, Detroit has only a .648 OPS against left-handed pitching compared with a .749 OPS against right-handed pitching.

A big part of the concern has been the slumping Andy Ibáñez. A bona fide lefty killer for the first half of the year, Ibáñez is hitting only .165 with just three extra-base hits since July 21. The Tigers hit him leadoff Thursday and Friday to get him reps and jump-start his bat. Ibáñez finally responded with a double Friday.

Despite his struggles, Ibáñez is likely a lock for the playoff roster. He still has huge upside against lefties and remains a chess piece opposing managers have to be cognizant of in late-game situations.

The Tigers just need to hope they can get Ibáñez to settle down in the box and reclaim his first-half form.

“He wants it so badly when he’s in there, and sometimes that makes him a bit over-anxious, maybe swinging too much,” Hinch said. “Nobody is more prepared than him, and no one has more energy in their at-bats than Andy.”

What will the pitching look like?

Tarik Skubal is starting Game 1 on Tuesday. Signed, sealed, delivered.

“Getting him in Game 1 is pretty awesome,” Hinch said.

But after that?

Expect more of the same pitching shenanigans we’ve witnessed each of the past two months. Reese Olson and Keider Montero are candidates to work as starters. It’s just as likely the Tigers will opt for openers and bulk relievers as they have so often in their miraculous run. Trying to map out whom the Tigers will throw is a fool’s errand. And might that be to their advantage?

“Even given my experience, I’ve never done the opener in the postseason, and we haven’t even had our full personnel meeting on how we’re going to attack whoever we play,” Hinch said. “I’m going to try to keep everybody guessing just as much as I have with you guys for the last two months.”

Can the magic continue?

The question was asked about a million times in the midst of Friday’s postgame celebration. Asked Thursday whether the Tigers’ play as of late was magic or something else, Hinch said, “I don’t know, but if so, bottle it up and keep bringing it to the ballpark. … Getting to the ballpark every day, there’s a renewed energy every single day. Whether that’s magic, whether that’s momentum, whether that’s vibe, whatever, we love it and we want more of it.”

Then Friday night came more quotes.

“Now it’s a playoff-bound team,” Hinch said. “We checkmarked that box, and now we can try to stack more and more wins to create an even more special summer.”

“I’m just excited that we got in,” Harris said. “Hopefully, we can do some damage in October.”

How far could they go?

“As far as it takes us,” Riley Greene said. “We’re gonna keep believing until it happens.”

(Photo: David Rodriguez Munoz / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

UW-Milwaukee unveiled its chemistry building with a grand opening ceremony on Friday. The project cost $118 million, a six-year campaign of securing funds, design and construction.

This is the third ceremony held for this 163,400-square-foot building. First was a groundbreaking ceremony held in January of 2022 followed by a Topping Off Ceremony in January of 2023. 

To celebrate the grand opening, a ceremonial “chemical reaction” was organized by the Chemistry Department and carried out by Dean of the College of Letters and Science Scott Gronert.

“It’s the chemistry department, so we’re not going to cut a ribbon or break open a bottle of champagne,” said Gronert. 

The ceremony, hosted by Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Andrew Daire, also had several speakers including Chancellor Mark Mone, UWM Board of Regents President Amy Bogost, Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Administration Kathy Blumenfeld and Dean of the College of Letters and Science Scott Gronert. 

“The chemical industry is the fifth-largest manufacturing sector in Wisconsin, said Mone. “UWM graduates are vital to that industry… This building will not only enhance the learning experience for our students, but it will also fill the state’s talent pipeline and bolster our research capabilities, contributing to significant scientific advances.”

According to Mone, this building would not have been possible without the support of the Universities of Wisconsin, UWM Campus Space management and Planning, UWM Board of Regents, State of Wisconsin Building Commission and the State of Wisconsin Department of Administration Division of Facilities Development.  

“Chemistry is a foundation,” said Mone. “It’s a building block for so many programs on our campus – engineers, environmental science, forensics, freshwater sciences, nursing, medical technology, teaching and many more.” 

Teaching Tomorrow’s Scientists 

More than 3,500 students take chemistry or biochemistry classes at UWM every year. In 2015, UWM was recognized as an R1 research institution, placing it in the top tier of research universities in the nation. 

“Each of these students have one or often several chemistry courses as they prepare for their futures,” said Mone. “That’s what it’s about – preparing students for their futures.”

According to Bogost, 88% of those who earned bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees at UWM in 2024 graduated in fields of high demand such as health and human services, business, STEM, and computer science. 

Bogost added that 5,300 have graduated from UWM each year over the last decade, 80% of which have stayed in the state

The new chemistry building is meant to serve as a gateway to UWM’s STEM departments and help faculty and staff better prepare students interested in fast-growing fields like medicine, genetic engineering, toxicology, pharmaceutics, chemical education, nanoscience and more.  

“In July, Wisconsin was officially selected as a regional technology hub,” said Blumenfield. “[It was] recognized as a global leader in personal medicine and biotech. To be successful in all of these fields, we will need future scientists, leaders, researchers, and technical experts.” 

To honor the opening of the new chemistry building, Sterling Pharma Solutions has donated $25,000 to the chemistry and biochemistry department. 

Designed for Science by Science 

“When we were designing the building, it was difficult because the design phase started before COVID-19,” said Gronert. 

The building was designed and engineered through a partnership between CannonDesign and Kahler Slater. Construction began in 2022, and was spearheaded by VJS Construction Services. 

The new Chemistry building features state-of-the-art labs, advanced research equipment and flexible learning spaces that reflect the latest trends in chemistry education and research. After the ceremony, visitors were allowed to explore the building and all it has to offer. 

The basement houses the single most expensive piece of equipment purchased through new building funds, a magnetic resonance facility designed to teach undergraduate and graduate students about the applications of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The basement is not open to the public, and visitors were not allowed to tour the facility. 

The first floor has two lecture halls, a teaching studio and outreach lab to support learning for K-12 teachers and students studying to be teachers, and a chemistry supplemental instruction space for tutoring. 

The second floor has teaching labs designed specifically for nursing, health sciences and engineering majors. Visitors could also get free t-shirts and enjoy some ice cream made with liquid nitrogen. 

The third floor houses the Industry Incubator Research Lab where companies can form partnerships and space agreements to occupy the building for research and teaching opportunities. 

“The Milwaukee Institute for Drug Design will be housed in this building,” said Blumenfield. “Its members have secured over $27 million in research funding and produced 63 patent applications since 2017.” 

The third floor also houses the organic chemistry research suite and teaching lab for the development of new organic reactions to enable the synthesis of new drug candidates for cancer, respiratory and other diseases. 

Visitors could also watch a Scientific Glassblowing Demonstration where they used a specially-designed lathe and blow torches to add a second neck to a boiling flask. 

The fourth floor was designed for bio- and inorganic chemistry researchers who study systems ranging from antibiotic biosynthesis to the search for new antiviral compounds and the inner workings of metalloenzymes. 

The building was also designed with sustainability in mind, utilizing a modern HVAC and exhaust system with energy recovery to help preheat the air in the winter and cool the air in the summer.

(FOX 9) – Hurricane Helene’s destructive path claimed at least 51 lives across five states, and hundreds were rescued from flooding and damage. The aftermath left neighborhoods underwater and millions without power.

MacKenzie Stein from Minnesota is without power at least until Monday. She moved to St. Petersburg, Florida recently, and evacuated from her home before the Category 4 storm hit.  Now, she’s left again waiting for her power to come back on in her apartment.

READ MORE: Helene latest: Live updates from Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and the Carolinas

“Not even a month ago I moved there, and I got hit with a Category 4 hurricane,” said Stein.

Stein moved to Florida last November from Minnesota. 

“When I went to go drive onto my road, my road was actually flooded. Right outside I could see when I pulled up there was about five or six cars stuck out there in the road,” said Stein.

Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend Region with 140 miles per hour winds, with lots of damage on the Barrier Islands.

“Terrible. I’ve lived here since 1983. We’ve been here when other hurricanes come through. I’m actually from Minnesota, but we get down here every couple of months, and yeah, this is probably one of the worst ones,” said Paul Chadbourn from Minnesota.

Stein was relieved there wasn’t any flooding in her apartment. But now she’s without power and air conditioning, leaving her worried about her cats.

“I gave it a few hours, and then I got the notice that they weren’t going to be putting the power back up until Monday,” said Stein.

Mackenzie is hoping her power comes back on Monday. She also mentioned some of her neighbors stayed through the hurricane at her apartment complex. 

Now without any air conditioning, they’re forced to find hotels after the storm passed through.

Helene weakened to a tropical depression Friday afternoon.